Carrie Underwood is a judge on American Idol now, and she recently joined a contestant singing Korn and Drowning Pool classics during his audition.
The country vocalist became a superstar after winning the fourth season of American Idol back in 2005. Nine albums later, her career has come full-circle and she is now a judge on the competition show.
The new season kicked off two nights ago (March 9), and during the episode, a long-haired metalhead contestant named Insite covered Korn’s “Freak on a Leash.” He complemented his performance with some headbanging, and even pranced around like Jonathan Davis a little bit and scatted during the bridge.
Underwood lip-synced and nodded her head around during the audition, showing off her adoration for the song. Co-host Lionel Richie noticed how into the performance she got, and suggested the two do a duet together.
“She knew every word! Who are you?” Richie asked her.
Richie admitted he enjoyed the audition, but joked that he wasn’t sure how they would fit the Insite into “Disney night.”
Country singer Luke Bryan, who’s another judge on the show, added that he appreciated the contestant’s style but wasn’t entirely sure about him. Thus, Underwood suggested he sing something a bit “softer.”
“My other song was ‘Bodies’ by Drowning Pool,” Insite responded, and Underwood stood up from the judges’ table and went onto the floor with him.
“We’re starting to learn about Carrie’s alter egos,” Bryan said.
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Underwood sang some of the song’s background vocals, without stealing Insite’s thunder of course. It’s not often that you hear screaming during a mainstream singing competition show, so this contestant definitely added a little spice to the beginning of the season.
Richie played the air guitar and Bryan headbanged along during the second song, so it appeared they were a bit more excited by “Bodies” than “Freak on a Leash.”
“That was high school for me,” Underwood remarked at the end of the performance.
“We are learning about our judge!” Richie asserted.
All three judges gave Insite the green light to move onto the next round, so we’ll have to wait and see which tracks he chooses to sing throughout the remainder of his time on the show.
See the full video of both performances below.
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